ISLAMABAD: 14 April 2026 – China’s President Xi Jinping met Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing on Tuesday, with the visit centered on strengthening economic ties.The meeting of the two leaders comes on the second day of Sanchez’s visit as he seeks to position Spain as a bridge between Beijing and the European Union, whose relations with the United States are under strain.
The Spanish prime minister is on his fourth visit to China in four years and follows a steady flow of Western leaders visiting Beijing in recent months as President Donald Trump’s tariffs and unpredictable foreign policy have rattled the US’s traditional allies.
Spain has been one of Europe’s loudest proponents of expanding trade and treating China as a strategic ally rather than an economic and geopolitical rival.
China accounted for 74 percent of Spain’s total trade deficit, Sanchez said, adding that cooperation was important to build a “balanced, globalized economy that generates shared prosperity.”
Madrid hopes Sanchez’s visit will narrow Spain’s trade deficit, which more than doubled in four years to nearly $50 billion in 2025. It is looking to boost agricultural and manufacturing exports to offset high volumes of China’s imports.
China’s official news agency Xinhua on Monday said Sanchez’s visit was set to further consolidate bilateral ties and pointed to a broader pathway for steady engagement between China and Europe at a time of growing global uncertainty.
Spainis Prime Minister is continuously and actively opposing the strikes on Iran as one sided and illegal. China is big importer of petroleum from Iran and both are close to each other in strategic and defence affairs as well.
The naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz announced by US President Donald Trump “makes no sense,” Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles said.
“I too think it’s something that makes no sense … It’s one more episode in this whole downward spiral into which we’ve been dragged,” she said in an interview on Spanish public television.
